A new planet: astronomer talks about his discovery
This is an artist's concept of a gas giant planet orbiting a red dwarf K star. Alex Wolszczan recently discovered a planet similar to this one, about the size of Jupiter, orbiting a red giant star 300 million light-years away from earth. Photo: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STScl)
Astronomers are racing to find planets outside our solar system, worlds such as Earth, possibly with life.
But why are they doing it? And what will it mean if life is found outside our solar system?
Earth & Sky’s Jorge Salazar spoke with Alex Wolszczan, professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at Penn State University. Based on observations made in 1990, Wolszczan co-discovered the first planet outside our solar solar system. Since then, over 250 worlds beyond our solar neighborhood have been found.
Wolszczan spoke about his recent discovery of a planet, about the size of Jupiter, orbiting a sun not much unlike our own 300 light years from Earth.
